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Dating App Boosts During World Cup

An explosion in location-based dating apps, fueled by a volatile mix of delirious FIFA World Cup tourists, and excited locals.

Tinder, the dating app that sees 750 million swipes and 10 million matches every day, has seen a 50% increase in downloads and usage in Brazil since the World Cup began.

Brazil is Tinder’s third-largest user base behind the US and the UK, and the app is available in Portuguese.

“The average Tinder user spends more than one hour a day on Tinder, approximately 77 minutes, and that number is up by nearly 50% in Brazil since the start of the World Cup,” Tinder spokesperson Rosette Pambakian told Quartz.

Grindr, an app for gay and bisexual men, has also seen numbers spike. Compared to early June, the number of times users have opened the app has increased by 31%; and time spent on each session has jumped by 26%, a spokesperson said. Brazil is the sixth-largest market for Grindr, with 202,972 active monthly users.

An estimated 600,000 tourists from 186 countries are expected to visit Brazil during the World Cup, adding to the 3.1 million Brazilians who will be on the road for the championship. And annual beer sales in the country are likely to rise 37%—bringing in about $816 million—during the month-long tournament.